Celestia and Luna will unexpectedly need to rule their kingdom after starting on a journey they were never fully prepared for.
Equestria was once ruled by the most powerful Alicorns – the queen's name was Elysian, and the king's name was Astro. They both ruled their land with wisdom and love, and their subjects adored them.
A few years later, two princesses were born – Celestia, which was the oldest one of the two, and Luna. They had a joyful and peaceful childhood: Their parents teaching them how to use their magic and rule their kingdom, exploring the forest everyday, and so on. Their lives were great, until…
One by one, the ponies crept into the library. Their eyes were stretched wide with fear, reflecting the cold moonlight that filtered through the window by their side. They crouched low with their bellies close to the ground, their gazes flickering from side to side as if they expected the shadows to leap at them.
The glimmer of moonlight illuminated their surroundings, turning them into glowing silver. Ahead of them, a light gray-colored stallion with yellow eyes and a gray-and-light brown beard, mane and tail was settled on the ground, emotionlessly gazing at them as they approached.
"Starswirl?" A young, pure white-colored mare with dark-to-light green mane and tail called, blinking her purple eyes.
"Step forward," ordered Starswirl The Bearded in a rasping voice.
The mare obediently took a few paces forward until she was standing in front of him. The stallion's haunches were low, his yellow eyes were troubled, and he looked completely defeated.
"Why are you here, now, Clover The Clever?" He asked with a hint of hopelessness in his voice.
"The elements, we need to–"
"They won't work," the stallion interrupted.
"What do you mean? I've-" and once again, she was interrupted by the older stallion.
"No, Clover. I told you–I tried. I tried activating them. I tried making them work, but my magic wasn't powerful enough – not like the king and queen's. And, who knows? Maybe their magic wouldn't have been good enough, too. They went to find the Great Darkness that's hunting us all, and never came back. So tell me, what hope do we have?"
"Are you saying all we can do is wait for the Great Darkness to kill all of us, one by one, without doing anything?" Asked a red-colored mare with battle-scarred muzzle and dark mane and tail, her yellow eyes glaring furiously.
"We don't have another choice," he replied hopelessly.
"I do!" She said stubbornly. "Fight!"
"We tried that before, and what happened? More victims without any progress."
Before Commander Hurricane could reply, Clover The Clever interrupted. "You're right, fighting won't help us, but magic will," she said firmly.
Starswirl The Bearded fixed his yellow gaze on her, and he had all of their desperation and sorrow in them as he asked, "how? I couldn't activate the elements; my magic wasn't enough. It's all my fault."
Clover blinked sympathetically at him. "No, it's not," she said reassuringly, giving him a shoulder rub. "We can fix this together, using the power of friendship."
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and echoed, "friendship?"
"Yes. Remember when the three tribes were freezing to death? It was because of hate. Later on, when we became friends, a powerful feeling surged though me—made me feel like I can do anything; and so I did. I used the magic and saved us – the magic of friendship."
When she saw her mentor's ears perk up with interest sparkling in his eyes and the same expression of hunger for knowledge she continued her explanation. "I talked with the ponies that witnessed it—Commander Hurricane and the others—about it. You wanted to at least activate six gems, and we're six ponies. I asked them what they mostly liked about that event. Commander Hurricane said she liked the loyalty, Chancellor Puddinghead said she liked the laughter, Princess Platinum said she liked the generosity, Smart Cookie said she liked the honesty, Private Pansy said she liked kindness, and mine was magic. It could be possible that we can make the gems work, right?"
He gazed at her for a few moments before replying. "It could be," he said at last. "But I'm not sure if your power is enough."
"Already thought of that," she said with a determined grin. "We decided that we will choose the most loyal, humorous, and so on, ponies from each tribe and assemble in a week so I could try my spell."
"Alright, Clover The Clever. I'd like to see what you have."
7 days later…
Clover The Clever was standing in the middle of the forest beside the waterfall where the royal family used to live with Starswirl The Bearded and Princess Platinum by her side, a group of unicorns flanking them. A few minutes later, the green leaves rustled and a group of Pegasi glided toward them with Commander Hurricane on the lead, making a rough land in front of them, followed by the Earth Ponies on the opposite side, led by Chancellor Puddinghead.
"Are all the tribes here?" Clover The Clever asked, breaking the silence.
The three leaders nodded, and Clover stepped forward until she was in the middle. Flashing a glance at her mentor, she was hopefulness and encouragement glimmering in his eyes as he gazed at her, and she lost all of her hesitation. She had to do this.
"Alright," she started with a confident voice. "Most loyal ponies, step forward. Concentrate on times when you were truly loyal."
The leaders of each tribe motioned for a group of ponies to step forward, and they obediently did until they were in front of her. Clover could see the determination in their expressions – how they'll do everything to keep their land safe. They were truly loyal.
With a last stare at them, Clover closed her eyes and flattened her eyes, doing her best to consecrate on making the right process of the spell that would transform the power of these ponies' loyalty to the first ruby.
Her horn glowed powerfully at last, ruffling her dark-to-light green-colored mane. She shot the chosen ponies a strike that sent them trembling for a moment. A ball of light formed, and with the best of Clever's efforts, it was carried into the gem.
Opening her eyes again, she gazed at the ruby with expectant eyes. It was shining powerfully with the energy of the countless ponies who participated.
Flashing a glance at her mentor, she saw him gazing at the ruby with amazement, it's glitter reflecting in his widely-stretched eyes.
"Did it w-work?" That was Commander Hurricane, padding over to her, rubbing the back of her head with a dizzy expression crossed on her face.
"Yes, it did," she replied with a half-shaky voice. "We have the Element of Loyalty."
She did the same for the rest. Well… except for one amethyst. Clever poured all of her magic into the 6th element, adding the magic of friendship of everybody around her into it. Soon, all of the 6 elements were shining brightly, reflecting all of the energy the ponies gave them.
"We did it!" Clover The Clever exclaimed brightly after losing her dizziness and realizing what they did. "We activated the 6 elements!"
Wails of victory rose from the crowd, and they stomped their hooves on their ground, glaring with determination.
Clover and her friends picked up the elements, exchanging smiles with each other as Starswirl The Bearded approached. "You've done great, Clover," he started with a warm smile. "You've done what I couldn't have done. You deserve respect and admiration from us all," he finished, bowing to her, and was followed by the rest of the crowd, even her friends.
"Thanks, everypony," she said, her ears flattened with embarrassment with a faint blush appearing on her face. "I couldn't have done it without you.
"Now," she continued more confidently. "We can defeat the danger that's threatening Equestria."
It was centuries ago, in the beautiful Everfree Forest. The castle rose from its place near an enchanted waterfall, it's top spires seemingly grazing the sun. A light pink-colored filly with a taffy-colored long mane and eyes can be seen stepping down the gray-colored stairs with a joyous grin plastered across her face, followed by a tinier grayish-blue-colored Alicorn with a cornflower-colored short mane, her greenish-blue eyes sparkling with excitement.
"A princess needs to be quiet and serious all the time!" Exclaimed Celestia, quickening her pace until she was running.
"A princess needs to be wise!" Luna shouted, extending her hind-hoof under the pink Alicorn and tripping her.
Celestia recovered quickly, and was soon flanking Luna. "A princess needs to be clean all the time!" She said, leaping off into the air and landing on top of Luna, causing both of them to fall on the ground. Soon, the two sisters were rolling on the grass, giggling contently as they playfighted each other.
Suddenly, they bumped into something, which stopped their movement. Glancing up, they saw their parents – a pure-white colored Alicorn mare with a shimmering golden mane and amber eyes, which was their mother, Elysian, and a grayish-blue-colored Alicorn stallion with a mane that had the night sky in them, which was their father, Astro, who had his dark blue eyes fixed on them. Both of them were flanked by a group of Royal Guards.
"Celestia, Luna?" Elysian started with an expression that said 'I want an explanation, and I want it now.'
They both blinked. Usually, their mother was cheerful whenever she came back from patrol after checking her kingdom's status and making sure everything's safe. But now, she looked completely anxious, and had an expression that made it look like seeing them was the last thing she wanted.
"Well, um, we finished our Magic Lesson with Mr. WeirdoBeardo– I mean, Starswirl The Bearded, and we thought we can have some playtime together…" Celestia answered hesitantly, hauling herself to her hooves and staring at her parents with innocent, 'I did nothing please don't ground me' eyes.
"Well, you need to go to your History Lesson now, Miss Aly's waiting."
"Yes, mom," they both replied in unison, slowly turning around and withdrawing back to the castle.
"What do you think is making our mom act strange like this?" Luna asked as they approached their bedroom to bring their saddlebags.
"I don't know," Celestia replied quietly. "But whatever it is, it's not good."
Celestia and Luna were already in the history classroom. Celestia was staring ahead with a cheek resting on her hoof, her eyes narrowed with sleepiness. Her sister, Luna, was doodling in her journal, not really listening to whatever the teacher wanted to teach them. She was sketching the map of The Land of Three Tribes. She always liked the idea of exploring the whole world, to discoverer what nopony did before her…
Suddenly, a paperball hit her head, snapping her out of her daydream daze. Fixing her blue gaze on her sister, she could see that her sister was holding up a paper that said 'What are you drawing?'
Luna quickly replied with a 'Map of Land of Three Tribes'.
"Hey, Luna," Celestia whispered. "A princess doesn't prank her teacher!" She fixed her pink gaze on her teacher. Her horn sparkling to life, she floated their teacher's coffee into midair, using a 'Heat Spell' she learned a while ago. Soon, the liquid was bubbling. Stifling giggles, she placed it back on the desk.
After a few moments, the cup was surrounded by yellow aura, and was lifted to the teacher's mouth.
"Argh!" The yellow-colored mare exclaimed, then the cup fell onto the ground. Soon, it was shattered to pieces.
"Girls!" The mare called angrily as the fillies started giggling. "This lesson is important! It makes you lean about the past years of our land!"
"We're already done with thaaaat," replied Luna fiercely.
"Then that is it!" The mare said, adjusting her glasses. "Class is dismissed!
"And don't forget that you have reports to turn in about the discovery of the third tribe essay!" She added as they eagerly galloped out of the classroom.
"Freedom!" Celestia exclaimed as they ran down the hallway.
"A princess needs to be reasonable!" Yelled Luna joyfully, giving her sister a sidebump as they raced on.
"A princess needs to be sensible!" Celestia exclaimed, shooting her sister a magicstrike that pushed her a few hoof-lengths away.
They both skidded to a halt as their purple-colored foalsitter stood at the end of the hallway, looking at them with expectant eyes. "A princess needs to follow her foalsitter back to her bedroom for her break," the young mare said with a confident smile.
Celestia was sitting on her pink-colored, cozy covers, playing with some blocks. Her side of the room was painted with yellow, resembling the daylight. The other side was blue-colored with tiny white-glowing dots that resembled the galaxy, and Luna was laying on her rich blue-colored covers, sketching her map-thing.
"Hey, Luna!" Celestia whispered. Once she got her sister's attention, she said, "I bet a princess doesn't make fun of her foalsitter!" As she finished that sentence, her horn sparkled to life, and she shot the mare a magicstrike that put her mane to an end, making her look like a clown.
"Celestia!" The mare called angrily, crossing her hooves. "What did I say about your way of 'having fun?'"
"You don't like it," Celestia said casually.
"But you still love us!" Luna added cheerfully.
"… that's true," their foalsitter admitted with a chuckle. "Time for class."
Celestia and Luna were now running down the hallway, singing their favorite song.
"… you're the sun to my daylight!" Luna sang.
"And you're the moon to my night!" Celestia replied with a smile.
"And you're the warmth of my day!"
"And you're the moonlight that shows me the pathway!"
They continued till they were breathless. Now, they were sitting side by side, staring as the moon slowly rose to its peak. Celestia was staring ahead at the glimmering stars curiously, while her sister was hugging her journal.
"What will you do when I'm on my adventure?" Luna asked suddenly.
"I'll rule the kingdom in safety and wait for you to return," answered Celestia carefully, and Luna's response was a frown; and she probably knew why. Her sister was afraid that being a princess would prevent her from exploring the world. "You will travel through the land, Luna. And like I promised, I'll rule the kingdom while you're gone," Celestia said, unfolding her wing and wrapping it around the younger Alicorn.
"Thanks, Tia," Luna replied, smiling.
"Tia, I'm glad that you're my sister," Luna said softly after a few minutes of silence.
"And I'm glad you're my sister, too, Luna," Celestia replied.
Celestia followed the rest of the royal family into a stone-built building. Gazing onward, the little princess could see a table placed in the middle of the well-decorated room, the representatives of each Tribe sitting on a side of it, their ponies flanking them. At the other end, rocks jutted out of the wall, neatly crafted to form thrones for the Alicorns. They were well done, enough to make her parents comfortable. Her mother and father were already sitting on the biggest thrones, gazing ahead at the Tribes with glinting optics. Smaller thrones flanked them, and Luna was already sitting on one of them.
Seeing that she was behind, Celestia quickly rushed up to her family, fluttering up to her throne with the best of her abilities. Hers was placed next to her father's. Seeing how calm and collected he looked, she tried her best to copy him; sitting up-straight and looking ahead with a supposedly unwavering gaze. Soaking in her surroundings, she noticed that one Tribe was missing; their seats empty.
"Where is the Tribe of Earth Ponies?" Commander Hurricane demanded. "We're wasting a lot of time!"
"We cannot start The Gathering with the presence of only two Tribes, Commander," Princess Platinum replied dryly, though she looked annoyed as well. "We might as well wait in silence."
"I'm not going to waste all moonlight waiting for a Tribe with an irresponsible leader!" Commander Hurricane hissed stubbornly. "I bet they're doing this on purpose, so we wouldn't be able to question the lack of food!"
Before Princess Platinum could reply, thundering of hoof steps cut her sentence. Both of the Tribes perked their ears, then averted their gazes to the source. The third Tribe skidded to a halt in front of them, their sides heaving with effort. "We are very sorry for delaying the Gathering," Smart Cookie panted, breaking the silence, as she weaved her way to the front of the crowd. "We faced some… difficulties."
"With somepony like Chancellor Puddinghead as your representative, I'm not surprised," came Commander Hurricane's irritated reply, her gaze raking across the cluster of earth ponies. "And after all of the trouble her Tribe caused, she's still not there."
Upon hearing her response, Smart Cookie's emerald eyes blazed with flames of fury, and she irritably replied with, "Chancellor Puddinghead's checking on the Tribe's progress in farming to make sure that there will be enough food for all of us, including your Tribe, Commander Hurricane. There was a lot of job to be done, and that's why she couldn't make it." The mare's voice was calm, but Celestia could see that she was trying her best not to snap at the Pegasus.
"Couldn't it wait for another day? The Gathering doesn't ha—"
"Enough!" King Astro yowled, interrupting Commander Hurricane. "The Gathering happens during the full moon when all of the Tribes should discuss whatever troubles they have rationally and peacefully. Yelling at each other will make that harder.
"Commander Hurricane," he continued, fixing his piercing gaze on the Pegasus, "I do understand that you are troubled, but that's no excuse to start being disrespectful. I do not want to start treating representatives like fillies." Flicking his starry tail, her father sat back down, his calm expression returning to his face once more.
The Tribes fell into silence, as if ashamed of what they did, except for Commander Hurricane who shot the King one more furious glance before sitting back down, not meeting any of the Alicorns' gazes. Taking a deep, calming breath, Smart Cookie motioned for her Tribe to start climbing up to their seats behind the earth ponies' flag. Even though they looked even more irritated than her, they nodded pointedly and filed up to their section, taking their time to sit down as if to annoy the Pegasi's representative even more. When they were done, her mother said, "the Gathering may start now."
Twitching her ears, Celestia averted her gaze to the Queen, noticing that that was the first time she ever spoke throughout the entire argument. That didn't really surprise her; her mother was always the soft, merciful one, who raises her voice at rare, extreme situations, which was unlike her father, who had his temper ebb away easily.
"… and that wasn't enough," Commander Hurricane continued, snapping Celestia out of her thoughtful daze, "we are an entire Tribe. We need more than just scraps."
"We're trying our best to afford food for every Tribe, Commander," came Smart Cookie's response. "We lowered our prices for it, too. Besides, it's hard to continue farming properly when the weather is so harsh on us." She seemed to say that pointedly, as if indirectly accusing the Pegasus of the bad weather.
"For the hundredth time, it's not us who're making the weather so cold. We're trying to control it, but it's out of our hoof!"
"Can't the Royal Family do something?" A Pegasus mare asked from the crowd, nodding her head to the Alicorns. "They are the rulers, after all."
"We are trying our best to control the situation," came Elysian's calm response, though Celestia could sense doubt edging her tone, "meanwhile, ponies of all Tribes, please try your best to keep things bearable. We will visit each Tribe as soon as we can to make sure that everything's going smoothly.
"Thank you all for attending, and may the sun and moon light your path."
Even with the Queen's reassuring words, tension seemed to keep cracking in the air as the three Tribes made their way out of the Gathering room after their representatives.
"Celestia, let's go," Elysian ordered her as the room emptied completely. She was already fluttering out of her throne, following Astro and Luna to the room's exist where the royal guards awaited them.
"Mother, do you think that there's more into it than weather?" Celestia asked suddenly, hopping out of her smaller throne, and rushing to her mother's side. "The representative sounded nervous…"
There was a moment of hesitation before Elysain replied with, "I'm sure it's nothing that needs overthinking, Celestia."
"But—"
"Let the older ponies take care of it," her mother snapped suddenly, quickening her pace out.
Celestia skidded to a halt, staring ahead at her mother's figure in wide-eyed silence. She never snapped like this unless it was something that's really bothering her. Whatever it is, it's not good…
All of the royal family made it back safely. The king and the queen were downstairs, discussing the Gathering with each other, whilst Celestia and Luna were settled in their beds, their rich covers wrapped neatly around them to keep them cozy from the cold.
"Celestia, don't you think that something wasn't right about the Gathering?" Luna asked suddenly, breaking the silence. She was writing what happened in the Gathering in her journal, pausing occasionally to brainstorm her thoughts about it.
"Huh?" Blinking, Celestia lifted her head from her book to eye Luna. "What do you mean?'
"Don't act dumb," Luna said, irritation edging her tone. "I'm sure you noticed it too; how all the Tribes were nervous, even our parents. Seriously, the Tribe of Unicorns didn't even utter a word."
Her sister hauled herself to a sitting position, eyeing Luna with a mixture of curiosity and dismay. "Maybe because the problem didn't involve them," she responded unsurely. "It seems that the Tribe of Earth Ponies and the Tribe of Pegasi are the ones who're having trouble with each other."
Luna lifted her head from her journal to fix Celestia with a piercing, dismayed gaze. "come on, Celestia. It's not like the unicorns don't want food anymore. Just like the Pegasi, they pay for food, too. It seems like they were hesitant to say anything."
Celestia shifted uncomfortably in her spot. "Um, maybe," she muttered, half to herself, as if pondering what Luna just said. She returned back to her book, flipping to the next page with her snout.
Luna furrowed her eyebrows, suppressing an exasperated sigh. She didn't know what was wrong with Celestia. Since they came back, she's been acting weirdly; avoiding her sister's company and reading a book just to make it an excuse so not to start a conversation. "I guess you're no use for my plan, then," Luna said, just loud enough for her sister to catch.
Upon hearing her words, Celestia snapped her head to her sister. "Plan? What plan?"
"The ‘I'll Try to Know What's Happening’ plan," Luna replied.
"How will you do that?"
"I'll ask our parents."
Celestia stared at her in dumbfounded silence before replying with, "Luna, that's not a plan…"
"Yes it is," her sister retorted. "I'll use my innocence and cuteness to persuade them into telling me."
Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Stupid."
"say that when I know what's happening while you stay living under a rooooock," Luna said teasingly, hopping out of her bed and trotting to the exist of her room where she'd go downstairs to meet her parents. Soon enough, she heard Celestia's hoof steps approaching, and a smirk crossed her face. "Came since you want my help to know everything?"
"More like to see you fail," Celestia replied gruffly, cautiously making her way downstairs. "Come on."
Twitching her tail, Luna followed her down the stairs, skidding to a halt at the last stair where her sister paused. Furrowing her eyebrows, she muttered, "move on!"
"Shh," Celestia hissed, shooting a glare at her before turning back to gaze onward.
Narrowing her eyes, Luna followed her gaze to where her patents stood in front of Starswirl the Bearded; their magic teacher, Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Princess Platinum, a few guards flanking them. Why are they here at this hour? Luna wondered, straining her ears with hope that she'll catch what he's saying.
"… and it'll be very dangerous," Elysian was saying. "That's why I need your most experienced unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies to come; some with us, and some to guard the castle still."
"We get all of that, Queen Elysian, but don't you think you need us, too?" Asked Commander Hurricane, her voice showing doubt than aggression for once, "we know what we're doing."
"And I never said you didn't," their mother replied calmly, flicking her tail. "And that's why I want you to stay here. I want you to make sure that your Tribes are safe."
"But we must protect you," Princess Platinum spoke despondently. "You're our leaders."
"And you're the Tribes' representatives," Astro responded this time. "What will they think when they find out that both their rulers and representatives are missing?"
The three of them averted their gazes to their hooves, their eyes clouded with all kinds of emotions.
"We will make sure that the required ponies are here tomorrow," Commander Hurricane vowed, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking, "and do our best to make sure the Tribes are safe."
"Good," Elysian replied with a nod of her head. "remember that you need to keep some of the stro…"
Luna jerked her head away, gazing at the ground with disbelief. She slowly turned her head to her elder sister, who was staring at her with the same astonished expression crossed on her face.
They both stared at each other with horror before opening their mouths to utter a sentence.
